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Everyone that came out for the Grape Stomp this past weekend seemed to have a great time and I thought it would be fun to compare that process to how we ferment a red wine in the cellar.
This weekend you were able to stomp a picking basket worth of whole cluster Primitivo grapes for enough juice to fill a couple small tupperware containers. From this point the juice could be fermented in a cool, dry place using the natural yeast found on the fruit in the vineyard. At the end of the fermentation you will end up with about a single bottle worth of lightly colored finished wine.
In the cellar we normally work with lots in the 1 to 5 ton range, which is equal to 2,000 to 10,000 pounds and will produce around 2 to 12 barrels of wine. With our red wines we want them to sit on the skins to develop more color and complexity, so instead of juicing the whole clusters we begin by removing the grapes from the stems and putting them in half ton bins. In order to get the most consistent and reliable fermentation results we will inoculate the grapes with a commercial grade yeast of our choosing. As the grapes ferment in the bins we will add nutrients for the yeast as well as punch down the cap of dried grape skins that forms due to the release of CO2 and heat. We will taste the fermenting juice every day to determine the optimal amount of skin contact and when that is reached we will then press the juice off of the skins. Instead of our feet, however, we use a press. It consists of a large metal cylinder with an air bladder on the inside. As air is pumped into the bladder it will put pressure on the grapes, squeezing out any last juice still in the fruit. The resulting wine is then put into barrels for aging for around 6 to 18 months before eventually being bottled.
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